1967 U-12 Miss Budweiser

Reprinted from Skid Fin Magazine, 2003, Volume 1 Number
2.

One of the most beautiful boats in the Hydroplane and Raceboat
Museum’s collection is the 1967 Miss Budweiser. Designed and build
in 1962 by Les Staduacher, this boat originally saw action as the
Notre Dame. Shirley Mendelson McDonald, daughter of Detroit
industrialist and avid boat racer Herbert A. Mendelson, was the
boat’s first owner. Shirley followed in her famous father’s
footsteps campaigning a series of six Notre Dames between 1962 and
1973.

After being badly damaged by a fire during a December test run
on Lake Washington with veteran driver Bill Muncey at the wheel,
the boat was retired from competition in 1963.

Mendelson had the boat repaired as a pleasure boat expanding its
cockpit to accommodate two people and adding a beautiful plank
mahogany deck. She named the rebuilt boat Shu Shu. It appeared in
two races in 1965 but never qualified.

In 1967 Bernie Little bought the Shu Shu and turned her into the
fifth Miss Budweiser after the fourth Miss Budweiser was destroyed
in a horrific accident that killed Budweiser’s popular driver Bill
Brow.

Rookie driver Mike Thomas was given the job of piloting the new
Miss Budweiser. He proved himself up to the task by winning the
British Columbia Cup in Kelowna, B.C., and capturing a second place
finish in the Sacramento Cup in Sacramento, Calif. A new Miss
Budweiser was ordered from Ed Karelsen for 1968, so the fifth Miss
Budweiser was retired again. In 1970 she was sold to Bob Murphy,
who campaigned her as the Burien Lady and later as Smyth the
Smoother Mover. She ran under several different names before being
put out to pasture (quite literally) at the end of the 1980
season.

Eventually she was donated to the Museum, and then sold to
Gerald Kingen, who paid to have her restored to her Miss Budweiser
appearance. A talented crew of Museum volunteers let by Roger
Newton and Larry Fuller worked none months to completely restore
her. She was reborn on July 3, 1999 and played a major role in
filming the movie Madison. In a nod to her origins, she appears in
the movie as both the Notre Dame and the Miss Budweiser. This
winter, the museum bought the boat back from Kingen, and she is now
a full-fledged part of our collection.